News & Updates: Introducing Our New Intern Parisa

Parisa Ansari – Translations Intern

From a young age, Parisa’s parents made it a priority that she learn the Persian language and embrace her culture, despite being born in the US. When embarking on her college journey at UCSB in 2021, she wanted to continue to maintain her cultural community, so she joined Fariba’s intermediate Farsi class and began working on what truly fascinated her: Persian poetry, specifically the work of the master Rumi.

As an intern with the Rumi Educational Center, Parisa is able to fully immerse herself in Rumi’s work and share all that she has learned from studying his poetry with others. She works with the REC to translate and analyze Rumi’s poetry so as to share his teachings with the rest of the world. As a translator, Parisa seeks the deeper meaning through studying Rumi’s works in Persian and then conveys those messages in English so that non-Persian speakers have the opportunity to also hear from his wisdom. Parisa studies biology and hopes to attend medical school after graduating from UCSB in 2025.